As the 2013 Telegraph Hay Festival begins, Mariella Frostrup, who will be
filming her book show at the festival again, answers a Q&A on literature.

• Which of your Hay Festival guests has surprised you the most, and why?

Harry Belafonte. I had no idea that the smooth crooner behind The Banana Boat song and Day-O was such an energetic human rights activist who’d been at the forefront of almost every important social movement of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Civil Rights to Apartheid, Anti Nuclear and the Iraq War. His memoir makes riveting reading. Sharp as a razor and very handsome at 85 he left us all swooning on the programme.

• What are you reading at the moment, and what's it like?

I’m reading Colum McCann’s new novel having loved his last, Let The Great World Spin,and Ruby Wax’s fascinating account of how she found peace in a crazy world, called Sane New World.

Elle, Decoration and Interiors. It’s nice to have a break from books and as we’re doing up our house in Somerset at present and I’m hungry for ideas.

• Do you have a favourite opening line of a novel?

“If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.” Saul Bellow's Herzog.

• Do you read printed books or e-books?

I love physical books, can’t bear to throw them away and am drowning under the weight of my collection but I do a lot of my work reading now on my iPad. It’s a great way of reading without disturbing my husband as I can have the light off and the font HUGE for my tired eyes.

• If you had to choose a favourite author who would it be?

I couldn’t choose a favourite author but two contemporary writers who have never disappointed me are Tim Winton and Alice Munro.

• If you could have written one famous book, which would it have been?

The Arabian Nights. If you’re only going to write one you want it to have a big impact!

• Who has been the best-dressed author on the show at Hay?

Grayson Perry, without question, in a Primrose yellow ball gown that looked like it had been stolen from a life-size ragdoll!

• What's a good book to read in a tent when it's raining?

The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie, which will transport you to the sights, sounds and smells of sunnier climes the moment you open the jacket.

• Is there a celebrated book you have not yet got round to reading?

Too many to mention. Sometimes the hype can have the opposite effect and make you feel you’ve read too much about a book before you’ve even opened it!

• Do you give up on a book you are not enjoying?

Reading a book you are not enjoying is a torture not to be undertaken without a reward. I leave plays at the interval, too!

• Is there a celebrated book you think is overrated?

I’m personally not too keen on many 19th-century epics but luckily there are so many books in the world that, if you don’t enjoy one variety, you can turn to another.

• What do you enjoy most at Hay?

I love the atmosphere at the Hay Festival and the multi-generational audiences, which is something you see too rarely in the UK. The sight of parents, children and grandparents all descending on a tented field to enjoy the pleasure of ideas and books renews my faith in humanity.

Mariella Frostrup's Book Show at the Telegraph Hay Festival can be seen on Thursday 30th May at 8pm, Sky Arts 1 HD. Catch up with the Hay Sessions every weeknight from 7pm, Sky Arts 1.